Focus on family care, say GPs

THE Northern Rivers General Practice Network has welcomed the extra health funding from this week’s COAG meeting.

But GP network chairman Dr Tony Lembke said now the Federal Government had taken on 60 per cent of hospital funding ‘it’s time to focus on the real work in health – keeping people well and out of hospital’.

“We need a greater focus on family care – on improved access to general practice and on better care delivered in the community,” he said.

“This has enormous benefits in increased health outcomes and in decreased health costs.”

Still, Dr Lembke said he had some concerns about the new case-mix funding model for hospitals.

“If it’s funded purely by the number of cases that go through the hospital, hospitals might seek to attract high-value low-cost cases, rather than high-cost, more complicated medical and mental cases,” he said.